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A MYSTERIOUS disease is killing fish in Gwembe’s Siabbamba dam as Chilanga Fisheries Research warns residents against eating the dead fish.
Chief fisheries research officer, Mbamwai Mbewe, said the cause of the fish mortality was complex although he ruled out overcrowding as there was enough water in the dam.
Since the dam was stocked with fish in 2006, it has never been cropped.
Mbewe said samples of the dead fish and water had been sent to University of Zambia (UNZA) School of Veterinary for further analysis and verification to determine the cause of fish mortality.
“We are suspecting that fish could have died from bacterial or fungal infections because some of it had lesions, but this can only be confirmed after findings from UNZA School of veterinary,” Mbewe said in an interview with NAIS.
Mbewe warned the community not to consume the fish from the dam before results were made known because of suspicions of poisoning as people were in the habit of using wrong methods of fishing.
And senior headman of Namalyo fishing camp, Misheck Nansanti, has called on the police to investigate death threats he was receiving from the fishermen.
Nansanti said some fishermen threatened to kill him if he continued to enforce laws on good fishing methods.
He said he had been receiving death threats after he banned the use of small fishing nets and other bad methods of fishing.
Nansati called on the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock to explain to the natives on the importance of adopting good fishing methods.
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